A lot has changed over the past two years since I have written a post. At some point my available time to invest in writing diminished completely along with any desire to write. So this blog very much took a back burner to everything else in life. I figured it was time for an update.

In December 2023, I attended a Board and Brush workshop while visiting family in Delaware. We made wooden signs from start to finish. First choosing from over a thousand projects when signing up. Then with an instructor lead workshop, we sanded, stained, assembled, stenciled, and painted the sign. We left with our completed projects proud of our accomplishments during the three hour workshop. My sister is friends with the owner and I started asking questions about the business as this type of crafting was something I thought my small town Iowa would enjoy. This lead to talking to the Franchise in February 2024, visiting the corporate office for discovery days. By April, I secured my loans for financing the business and I signed on with the franchise in May. I opened my own Board and Brush Creative Studio by the end of July 2024.

By November it became clear that we were not making enough money to sustain the business. Everyone who came through the doors thoroughly enjoyed their workshop and project experience. We just did not have enough customers coming through the doors to match the projected need I had calculated before opening. We did several pushes to try to gain more business. I used all of my resources and personal savings to try and stay open as long as possible. Unfortunately, despite our efforts, I had to close down by the end of March 2025.

A lot of factors played into the downfall of the business. One of the major being that I was let go of my full time job that I had for five years in September 2024. Although I secured a new higher paying job in October, I went almost two months without a paycheck. And my first couple of paychecks were small as I wasn’t working a full 40 hours. Much of the daily expenses and payroll for my business was coming from my personal finances. So when this happened, I fell behind on all of my loans…leading to depleting my savings and then defaulting on loans. Now that everything is done, I will be spending the next few years paying down accumulated debt. We have also faced other difficult circumstances that only have added to our financial struggle with vehicle accidents and medical issues. My current job has been a huge blessing as I was promoted to a higher paying position in April 2025. This has helped with catching up on my personal finances and hopefully will lead to paying down the business debt faster.

In other news, after being divorced for six years, I got married again in June 2025. It has been a whirlwind of a relationship. We started dating the beginning of February 2025 and have been inseparable ever since. We knew pretty early that we wanted to get married, recognizing that this relationship was far different from others we have had in the past. Logistically and financially, it made sense to do so sooner than later. As we both had traditional weddings before, we wanted a very non-traditional wedding this time. We had a small ceremony in the park on Friday the 13th. We fully embraced the gothic theme of the day with black and purple color scheme and Viking vows. Now the kids and I are transitioning to having a new person permanently in our lives and home. And Nick and I are learning each other and getting used to having a partner versus living life independently.

We wrapped up the summer with a family trip to Wisconsin and are getting ready for school to resume later this month. Our oldest daughter, Kendal, graduated this year and is heading to Southeastern Community College in Iowa. Our middle daughter, Audrey, is still living with her dad and will be in 11th grade this year. Our son, Kaleb, is going into 3rd grade. We are anticipating a busy fall season!

Despite the roller coaster ride of the past couple of years, our future is open to new possibilities. As things calm down (hopefully), I would like to start writing again. When I first started this blog, I used it more as a journaling outlet…perhaps I could start doing that again.